Nikole
Whiplash and grief. These two words were given to me by my therapist on my visit to her office last Spring after I shared with her all that went down in my life the previous two years. These two words accurately described those tumultuous years. When I first arrived at my therapist’s office, I felt…
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For those who know me well know that my passion is bringing people together. Finding common ground amidst our differences. Creating community out of unlikely places with all sorts of people. Connecting people with one another, for both pragmatic and relational reasons. But all with the goal of fostering community.…
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I have a dear friend whom I knew for years before I ever learned she was a secret poet. We’ve laughed together, cried together, raised our kids together. We’ve had deep conversations, hard conversations, and life-giving discussions. And yet this poetic side of her was always kept in the dark. I don’t…
Read More(13 minute read – Sermon from 9/22/2016) (In the first few seconds of my audio recording I’m choking back tears but I sound normal after that:) I love Brene Brown’s definition of shame. She describes it as the intensely painful feeling that we are unworthy of love and belonging. In other…
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You guys… my friends are being abused; their children are being abused. This is not a joke. This is their reality and they’re opening up to me about it. And the hesitancy and the fear these women have had in telling me and their loved ones about the abuse is…
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As you all know, it’s been a couple crazy years for us. We’ve experienced job insecurity, financial loss, broken relationships, adoption delay, and an unexpected third child – and that’s just in our personal lives. Add to this the ongoing injustices done to black, brown, queer, and/or female bodies in…
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Whether I’m ready or not, our baby is turning one next month – one! And I am so in love with him. It’s been a bumpy ride in the Mitchell household the past couple years, my last pregnancy notwithstanding. Judah went from being an unwanted baby* to a baby who…
Read MoreFriends tease me about the fact that I find papercuts painful and that I hyperventilate whenever I get poked with a needle. (thanks to having donated my plasma one too many times in college). But giving birth without meds? No problem. It hurts, but pushing a baby out seems natural to me; stabbing…
Read MoreIt’s been one of those days… one of those really bad days as a parent. Where you no longer think happy thoughts but only angry thoughts that are fueled by sleep-deprivation and toddler temper tantrums of epic proportions. Where all joy and happiness that exists in this world are suddenly…
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